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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685361">Who Blew A Hole In The Aurora</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippin/pseuds/Pippin'>Pippin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Interrogation, but it's getting there, not quite crack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:46:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,226</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippin/pseuds/Pippin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“What happened?” Nastya asked, gesturing slightly towards the gaping hole in Aurora’s hull.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Aurora/Nastya Rasputina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Mechs Fic Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Who Blew A Hole In The Aurora</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitbattery/gifts">fruitbattery</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nastya crossed her arms, looking beyond irritated.  “What happened?” she asked, gesturing slightly towards the gaping hole in Aurora’s hull.</p><p>“You can’t just, I don’t know, ask?” Tim asked, and Nastya rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Normally, yes, but whatever happened took out the cameras, and she’s not <em>actually</em> omniscient, no matter what you all believe.”</p><p>Everyone stood there, looking various shades of guilty, shifty, or disinterested.  Which was to say, normal. </p><p>“Right.  Here’s what we’re going to do.  The Toy Solider has a solid alibi, in that I ordered it to tell me the truth, so it’s going to help me get your stories, one by one.  And then Aurora and I are going to get to the bottom of it.”</p><p>The Toy Solider stepped forward and saluted sharply.  “I Was Helping Nastya Get Parts To Fix The Aurora!” it said brightly.  “Now, If You Will Line Up!  So We Can Get Your Stories!”</p><p>There was a lot of grumbling, but soon enough the crew was in some semblance of an organized line and, one by one, they met Nastya in a small room.  Dramatic lighting highlighted her features and she looked stern.</p><p>“Have a seat.”</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Jonny</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“There is a dent roughly in the shape of, well, you,” Nastya said sternly.</p><p>Jonny held up his hands, protesting innocence that he’d probably never had in the gesture.  “That’s the only thing I know anything about, really.  Small explosion, I hit the wall, and then I woke up to you kicking me in the ribs.”  He rubbed his side, glaring at Nastya.  “They’re still healing.  Do you <em>really</em> have to wear steel-toed boots?”</p><p>Nastya ignored the comment.  “You said there was an explosion.  What caused it?”</p><p>Jonny shrugged.  “That’s a question for Ashes or Tim.  Probably Tim, he’s the fucker who stores gunpowder all over the place.  That’s how he got his name.  Mostly.”</p><p>The Toy Soldier leaned close to Jonny’s face, somehow menacing despite its wide wooden smile.</p><p>“Are You Lying?”</p><p>Jonny swore colorfully at it.  “No, I’m not fucking lying!  And get the hell out of my face!”</p><p>“Fine.  Get out.  Send in Ashes.”</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Ashes</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Ashes leaned back in their chair, lit a cigarette, and looked generally unimpressed.  “Why would I destroy the ship?” they asked.  “I’m the quartermaster.  You know how much repairs <em>cost</em>?”</p><p>“Yes, I do, since I <em>do </em>most of them.  Also you don’t pay for shit.”</p><p>Ashes shrugged.  “Point still stands.”</p><p>Ashes generally wasn’t much of one for lying, preferring the brutal truth to any sort of platitudes, so Nastya was inclined to believe them.</p><p>“What setting is Brian on?”</p><p>Ashes stuck their head out the door then turned back to Nastya.  “EJM.”</p><p>“Fine.  I’ll talk to him next.  Please.”  She gestured to the door and Ashes headed out, though not before extinguishing their half-smoked cigarette against the Toy Soldier’s arm, adding to the collection of burns already there.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Brian (asshole)</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“I wasn’t even on the ship.”</p><p>Nastya arched an eyebrow.  If the ends were keeping someone he cared about safe, Brian would have no issues lying to protect them.  Not that she was a <em>real</em> threat to anyone on the ship, but Brian on Ends Justify Means could be surprisingly unpredictable for someone who was, at heart, a good man.</p><p>“I wasn’t!”</p><p>She wasn’t likely to get anything else out of Brian in this mode.  So she sent him out and banged her head on the table for a minute.</p><p>“Would You Like Some Tea?” the Toy Soldier asked cheerfully, and Nastya considered shooting it.  Luckily, Ivy entered before she had the chance.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Ivy</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Nastya ended up having to physically take Ivy’s book from her before the archivist would so much as look at her.  And then she had to use it as incentive.</p><p>“There’s a 59.5% chance that people are telling you the truth.”</p><p>“Remarkably high for this crew.”</p><p>Ivy agreed, reaching for her book.  Nastya, taller, kept it out of her reach.</p><p>“I wasn’t paying attention!  Toy Solider, give me my book back.”</p><p>“Right Away, Ivy!”  The Toy Solider took the book from Nastya’s grip and handed it back to Ivy, who shot a dirty look at Nastya and left.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Marius</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“Violin buddy!”  Marius was far too excited for the current circumstances.</p><p>“What do you know about this?”</p><p>“I wasn’t involved.  I wouldn’t do that to you or Aurora.”</p><p>“Thank you for your respect of my relationship.”  Nastya leaned forward, and she could feel the Toy Solider behind her, likely trying and failing to be menacing.</p><p>Marius just continued to look obnoxiously innocent, all big sincere eyes and slight pout.  Were it anyone else, it would be suspicious.  But it was Marius, so Nastya was unfortunately given to believe him.</p><p>Nastya pinched the bridge of her nose.  “Flip Brian’s switch and send him back in.”</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Brian (nice)</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“I still wasn’t even on the ship.”</p><p>Damn.  It wasn’t like EJM Brian was known for lying, but MJE straight up <em>couldn’t</em> lie.</p><p>Nastya, for all her <em>extensive</em> experience with robots, still hadn’t quite figured out how a metal man could look as petulant as the expression he was managing.  It was infuriating, but he was an honest man.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Raphaella</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Raphaella looked generally confused, although the Toy Soldier <em>had</em> had to physically drag her from her lab, because apparently an all-call for the crew members hadn’t included her, as deep as she was in experimentation.</p><p>“What’s going on?” she asked, wiping some sort of Science off her hands and looking at the corroded skin underneath with interest.</p><p>Nastya filled her in quickly, and Raphaella shook her head.  “My lab is soundproofed.  I didn’t notice anything.”</p><p>The Science was eating through the table, so Nastya sent Raphaella and whatever the hell she’d brought in with her away and got the Toy Solider to clean it up.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tim</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“The one thing I know for sure is that there was an explosion.”  Nastya started talking before Tim was hardly more than in the door.  “And we all know the main culprit behind the majority of explosions on this ship.”</p><p>“I wasn’t involved in it!”</p><p>The downside to Tim having mechanized eyes was that they didn’t give him away when he was lying.  The upside to Tim being, well, Tim was that he usually admitted to his explosions with a sort of gleeful pride.</p><p>Although he <em>was</em> sensibly wary of Nastya and her steel-toed boots, so perhaps he was lying to save the structural integrity of his shins.  Either way, she was unlikely to get anything else useful out of him. </p><p>Which left no one else to interrogate.  No one else and no goddamn answer.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Aurora</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Nastya hit her head gently on the girder in frustration.  “No one can give me a damn answer.  I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting.  More than <em>this</em>.”</p><p>Aurora chirped, her own particular language that Nastya had learned over the centuries.  <em>I have been taking the time to sort out what input I managed to salvage.</em></p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>
  <em>From what I can tell, the octokittens got into a barrel of Tim’s black powder and stole one of Ashes’ lighters.</em>
</p><p>Nastya groaned.  “Those fuckers are too clever for their own good.  At least now we know what happened.”  She swung down from the girder to rest against the engine.  “And now I can work on getting you fixed up again.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This isn't quite what you asked for, and I'm sorry.  It was going to go in a different direction and then got out of hand.  Hope you enjoy anyway!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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